European challenge to restrictions on Sutent prescribing
pharmafile | September 6, 2007 | News story | |
The European Commission has been asked to intervene in a row over a patient's access to kidney cancer drug Sutent, with claims being made that restrictions break EU law.
Conservative MEP Chris Heaton-Harris claims that the so-called postcode lottery breaks European anti-discrimination laws because some patients are denied treatment when others receive it on the NHS.
The action is a new tactic in the long-running battle over high-cost drugs between individual patients and PCTs.
Most notably, Ann Marie Rogers won a High Court fight for access to Herceptin in April 2006, but this hasn't ended the postcode lottery.
PCTs in England and equivalent health bodies in the rest of the UK continue to come to differing decisions on whether or not to make certain drugs available ahead of NICE guidance but are also coming up against increasing opposition.
The new European challenge is being made on behalf of Russ Jones, who is currently paying £3,500 a month out of his own pocket for Pfizer's Sutent because Warwickshire PCT will not fund the treatment.
Mr Jones told the BBC: "I know there's not much else for me, and this is the only chance that is available. Without it I will die sooner than I would."
His MEP Heaton-Harris said: "If you're being withheld treatment because of where you live, it could be similar to being denied treatment because of your religion or colour."
Warwickshire PCT replied with a statement saying it has a duty for ensuring all its resident population are in receipt of healthcare services, indicating that the decision was clinically, rather than financially, based.
"The main focus for the Individual Cases Panel was to consider the outcome for Mr Jones, and was not concerned with creating a precedent for the PCT that would be unaffordable.
"These decisions are never made without a lot of thought and consideration, and each case is considered on an individual basis."
The Department of Health has re-stated its position that no PCT should block access to a drug on grounds of cost, but also declined to force the hand of individual primary care trusts.
NICE is just beginning its appraisal of Pfizer's Sutent and rival treatments, Bayer's Nexavar and Roche's Avastin. The cost-effectiveness body is not due to produce its final guidance until January 2009.
In Scotland, the SMC has repeatedly ruled against Sutent, but Pfizer is determined to re-submit the drug for appraisal as new clinical data continue to accrue.
